Rook-Type Rifle Wanted - Who Can Make one and what is the best action

I hope to get some better pics when I get it out to do some shooting when I can do so without freezing me nadgers off or, this being coastal BC, having freezing rain dripping off my nose.

In the meantime I'm going to load up some ammo with the Bullet Barn 158 gr. RNFP I have on hand. At present I have some mild loads (6 gr. of Unique) for my SP-101 but I'll make up some with 2400 as well. It would be good to have some Hornady XTP loaded up in case of marauding coyotes but there don't seem to be any around. (Coyotes or XTP.)

For now I'm leaving the sights pretty much as is. I have put a very thin strip of white Scotchlite on the front sight to see if that helps; eventually I may replace it with a ramp and a Skinner blade (probably with a white line as I like them) and square off the rear sight notch but for now I just want to see how the old girl shoots and where the sights need to be set.

Thanks for the kind offer re tools for bushing the firing pin. I doubt it will be necessary but it's good to know that someone more or less local has "been there and done that". I read about the procedure years ago so I probably have the details filed away somewhere.

:) Stuart


pmatuk said:
Hi Stuart ,the old rifle looks complete and in really nice shape .Also the bigger hole adds to the package nice.The pin dent is big , shouldnt rupture or flow with regular magnum loads.Testing will tell for sure . If it does cause you greif I can send you the tools to bush the pin hole all said that is a nice martini that will use common store bought ammo and that makes it an excellent plinker ! cheers Peter
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josquin said:
Yes, there was powder residue in the barrel. Haven't had a chance to get it out shooting yet but I got a couple of pics in the sun late this afternoon. I'd forgotten what a nice, light, trim little rifle this is.

Rebored%20Cadet__zpsxtlvkh90.jpg


The new, slightly larger naughty end.

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And the big, fat firing pin indent. I went up the road to Rusty Wood and got some CCI Small Rifle Primers:

Firing%20pin%20indent_zpsdkwrziqf.jpg


:) Stuart
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She looks great, and it's nice to have it chambered in a commonly available calibre. Your "big, fat firing pin indent" looks just like mine. I doubt it will cause any problems.

Enjoy her.

John
 
My Rookies:
First is a BSA heavy frame target rifle in .22 LR. The receiver has light speckling so it will probably go to see Oskar. The second is a Vickers Jubilee model from about 1935, with a fractured stock. Next is an ugly Cadet, rebored nicely to .357M and is about to be fitted with the P-H Sportarget rear sight.The last rifle is a Westley Richards action that I had a chum fit up with a new-in-plastic-dip South African SMLE barrel. The guts of the action drop out of the bottom, just like the BSA small actions. The bottom actions are just teasers.
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slug said:
My Rookies:
First is a BSA heavy frame target rifle in .22 LR. The receiver has light speckling so it will probably go to see Oskar. The second is a Vickers Jubilee model from about 1935, with a fractured stock. Next is an ugly Cadet, rebored nicely to .357M and is about to be fitted with the P-H Sportarget rear sight.The last rifle is a Westley Richards action that I had a chum fit up with a new-in-plastic-dip South African SMLE barrel. The guts of the action drop out of the bottom, just like the BSA small actions. The bottom actions are just teasers.
View attachment 41422
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Very nice! In fact, I think it was you (Ross?) I bought my .310 Cadet from way back in.... April of 2004! IIRC, you're an accountant by day and at that point were knee-deep in doing tax returns. I still have the pics from the EE.

Since we're into Martini ####, here's a pic of my large-frame AG Parker 22 Hornet:

AGPMartiniHornet_6573_zps39f779f6.jpg


and a page from the 1938 P-H catalogue:

P-HMartinipage_zps5c19b574.jpg


:)
 
the wr francotte is an interesting action ,larger action with the whole firing group coming out with the one screw .The Vickers are a one piece barrel /receiver and again less common .all told yo have a nice group of less common cool martinis ,,,,,very nice indeed ! The loose actions as shown are how projects start :)
nice to see more Cheers Peter
 
Sorry, Josquin:
Wrong Martin-addict. I don't think that I would have sold a Cadet; it would have been too shoot-able.
However, if you feel so inclined, you can sell it back to me. ;)

On another tangent: My chum who rebarrelled the Westley Richards for me, has a Francotte Martini, in .32/20 with an external hammer.
I think I've seen more unicorns in my time.
 
slug said:
Sorry, Josquin:
Wrong Martin-addict. I don't think that I would have sold a Cadet; it would have been too shoot-able.
However, if you feel so inclined, you can sell it back to me. ;)...
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Sorry- TOO LATE NOW! But I will likely be selling off my CBE .310 Cadet mould & Lee dies. I bought them thinking I'd get into casting my own, then finally decided to get it rebarelled. I have some brass somewhere as well. :)
 
This is slightly off the original topic, aside from having posted some pics of my newly-rebored Cadet. I'v had it up to he range once so far, and found that it shoots high, even with the sights a minimum.

Today I decided to go up s FSR and do a little informal shooting, having epoxied a strip of aluminum onto the front sight to get some idea how tall it might need to be. It survived about 15 rounds before deciding it had had enough! I did get a chance to file it down a bit, though, so I now know about how tall it should be in order to allow some adjustment.

I didn't get a lot of useful pics but I forgot that my dash cam was on so I've excerpted a few seconds here:

[video]http://vid1192.photobucket.com/albums/aa338/oldbrownhat/Martini%20Cadet/Shooting%20the%20%20Cadet%20.357_480p_zpsxaada5dn. mp4[/video]

(Damn- looks lilke the direct llnk doesn't work. Guess you'll have to click on it. :()

I was shooting Bullet Barn 158gr RNFP over a moderate dose of 13gr. of 2400, which according to my Chrony produces about 1725 fps. I need to do more shooting to see how well it groups (ie I need more practice!) but I expect it will cloverleaf at 25 yds.

In the meantime I meed to figure out what to do about the front sight- whether to weld it up higher (if I can) or to remove it and put on a ramp and proper blade or a fibre-optic bead. I really like the XS-type of blades with the white line and have made these up with a strip of Scotchlite reflective tape on an angled blade. The rear sight is actually OK - and a real work of art, esp. considering this was a cadet training rifle. Another option would be to d&t the receiver for a Williams FP or 5D aperture sight. Part of me would like to keep it as "original" as possible, but given that it's already been rebored, mounting an aperture sight might be OK as long as it doesn't hang over the receiver too much and bother my thumb. Or I could go whole hog and remove the rear sight and mount an EER low-magnification scope or something like a TruGlo multi-reticle reflex sight. (Does anyone even carry these in Canada?)

:)
 
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slug said:
I finally got my P-H Sportarget sight mounted on my .357 Cadet.
View attachment 44113
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That looks just like the one on my P-H large-frame .22 Hornet Martini. The only problem is that they can intetrfere with the grip. I found the old Lyman 60 aperture sight that was originally (1966) on my CIL 310/Anschütz .22 and am thinking about putting it on my .357 rebored Cadet, but with a smaller-OD aperture with an .095 opening rather than the .040 target one. Preliminary measurements indicate that it will sit low enough to work with the front sight, although that is going to be replaced with a .100 ramp and a .400 Skinner blade with a white stripe on it. I'm also going to grind/recountour/polish & blue the inside of the vertical pillar of the Lyman to allow more clearance for my thumb.

I've only shot mine a couple of times since getting it back from Ron, not really enought to see how well it shoots but I'm hoping it will do well. I'd be interested in knowing what you feed yours. So far I've only tried 158 gr Bullet Barn RNFP over 13gr of 2400 for about 1725 fps.

:) Stuart
 
pmatuk said:
picked up the baby martinis from corlains ,they do nice cerakote job.Reason for the creakote as someone will ask is that the barrels are stainless steel and wont blue properly ]
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In the future send them to Murdoc (armacoat.ca) and have him nitron blacken them. Chemical process similar (sort of) to hot bluing, but works on both CM and stainless.
 
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While waiting for my front ramp sight I thought I'd make up a magnetically-attached cartridge holder for the .357 Cadet. I unfortunately didn't have any walnut, so used a piece of red oak, which I will stain darker to try and match the tone of the stock. After contemplating several methods of retaining the cartridges, I decided to punch holes in a piece of 1/8" neoprene rubber and glue it down with contact cement. I made a hole drill from a .38 Spec. case, but had to enlarge them with a 25/64" drill so as to allow just enough grip on the cartridges without having to pry them out. This was the same drill that I used for the holes in the wood, where it allowed the cartridges to drop in, but the rubber "sprang back" just enough. (I was afraid I'd need a V or W letter drill, which I don't have.)

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I inset two 3/4" neodymium magnets into the back with epoxy and covered them with 10 mil pipe wrap tape to avoid scratching the receiver.
The notch is to accommodate the action retaining pin.

Magnets_zpspufnblhp.jpg




:) Stuart
 
Hmmm, anyone else here find their Martini has the nice slow, almost suspended in the air ejection?
While I do appreciate the workmanship of the shellholder, I usually just carry the loaded rounds in one breast pocket and pluck the empties out of the air ( to be dropped into the other breast pocket ). It's almost a parlour trick to see the ejected empty hanging in the air.
Mind you, mine are 303 Br. Perhaps the lighter brass are moving faster.
Just wondering if mine is a one-off when it comes to this quirky feature is all.
 
If anyone is interested, there is a rook rifle for sale at w ww.accracyplus.biz. Item number XX314, made by TC Martin, caliber .300 Rook.
 
tokguy said:
Hmmm, anyone else here find their Martini has the nice slow, almost suspended in the air ejection?
While I do appreciate the workmanship of the shellholder, I usually just carry the loaded rounds in one breast pocket and pluck the empties out of the air ( to be dropped into the other breast pocket ). It's almost a parlour trick to see the ejected empty hanging in the air.
Mind you, mine are 303 Br. Perhaps the lighter brass are moving faster.
Just wondering if mine is a one-off when it comes to this quirky feature is all.
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One of my Martini's (mkIV International) pings the little rf cases about 15-20' on a good day. I managed to send one down the blouse of my wifes friend last summer-was fun watching her wrestle with her blouse to try and fish the case out. It left a perfect imprint on her left boob!
With my 577/450, you are lucky if the case clears the rifle.
 
tokguy said:
Hmmm, anyone else here find their Martini has the nice slow, almost suspended in the air ejection?
While I do appreciate the workmanship of the shellholder, I usually just carry the loaded rounds in one breast pocket and pluck the empties out of the air ( to be dropped into the other breast pocket ). It's almost a parlour trick to see the ejected empty hanging in the air.
Mind you, mine are 303 Br. Perhaps the lighter brass are moving faster.
Just wondering if mine is a one-off when it comes to this quirky feature is all.
Click to expand...

I just checked my .303 Martini (which has a replacement SMLE Mk. III barrel on it as the original one was shot out.) Even with vigorous working of the lever, the case calmly exits the chamber and sits politely on the block. I would have expected the case to be tossed clear as my .357 does, although not perhaps with the choreographic panache that yours has.
 
josquin said:
I just checked my .303 Martini (which has a replacement SMLE Mk. III barrel on it as the original one was shot out.) Even with vigorous working of the lever, the case calmly exits the chamber and sits politely on the block. I would have expected the case to be tossed clear as my .357 does, although not perhaps with the choreographic panache that yours has.
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Hey, I said it was almost a parlour trick...;)
 
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